I hope the NFL never adopts the 4th & 12 to replace onside kicks.

It definitely used to be more exciting - but it also used to be, hands down, the biggest culprit of catastrophic injury and concussions in the game. So they were left no choice but to tweak it and remove some of the “potential” injury.

I don’t mind the new rules and to me, kickoffs are still exciting, just in a different way. Now it’s more strategic because every single kicker on an NFL roster could kick a touchback at any time. So there’s a little strategy that goes into the decision to kick deep, or possibly kick short or even squib.

Look at last years AFC Divisional game. The Bills score the go-ahead TD with 12 seconds left. They kick deep leaving the Chiefs two plays to get into FG range. Had they squibbed it, into the field of play, the Chiefs don’t have time to run two plays.

The kickoff still matters despite the NFLs tweaks.
Let’s get rid of punts too. Heck, let’s play two hand touch.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.c...nd-kickoffs-are-disproportionately-dangerous/